An emergency Security Council meeting on Ukraine. Credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider
Opinion by James Paul (new york)
Inter Press Service
The writer is former Executive Director, Global Policy Forum and author of “Of Foxes and Chickens”—Oligarchy and Global Power in the UN Security Council.
NEW YORK, Dec 23 (IPS) – The UN Charter mandates the Security Council to maintain international peace, but wars rage on and nations arm themselves with ever more lethal weapons. No wonder that the Council’s critics are so many and calls for its reform so urgent.
On December 11, 1992, with post-Cold War optimism, the UN General Assembly voted to gather comments from member states on Council reform. Eighty governments made submissions, many sharply critical.
In the thirty years since, there have been endless meetings and initiatives. Year after year, governments, scholars, NGOs, and citizen movements have advanced proposals for Council renovation. In all that time, little progress has been made.
The Council’s five Permanent Members (the P-5) are the heart of the problem. Armed with vetoes, never-ending Council membership, and many other special privileges, they perpetuate their power, protect their global interests and shield their incessant war making.
They shape international law to suit themselves. The United States, the global giant, has by far the most dominant role in the Council. But it is adverse to following the rules itself and rarely inclined towards peaceful conflict solutions. Many ask: should the foxes guard the global chicken coop?
Various powers outside the P-5 want to be elevated to the highest rank. Brazil, India, Japan and Germany have long announced that they want to join the Permanent club. They argue that they would bring fresh ideas to better “represent” world regions and promote world peace.
Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt want to belong to the exclusive club too, bringing (they say) an African voice. But (to use an African metaphor) would these new crocodiles protect the world’s little fish? It seems unlikely!
Other reformers insist on more seats (and longer terms) for the Elected Members of the Council, presently ten in number. Smaller members are very vulnerable to pressure, threats and bribes from the P-5. Further, these lesser countries manage to have only the slightest influence on the Council’s proceedings.
They are, said the exasperated Singapore ambassador, “like short-term commuters on a long-distance passenger train.” So, a simple increase in Elected Members would not be a sure bet.
Limiting the veto or abolishing it entirely would have a very positive result but, needless to say, the P-5 fiercely oppose it. Reformers have also pressed for fairer membership elections and more frequent open public meetings.
Yet (with the exception of cosmetic tweaks) the reform process constantly runs up against P-5 blocking power. Their veto can stop any reform proposal dead in its tracks. But we should not forget that the world is changing and that autocratic power in history never lasts forever!
All reform proposals reflect an idealistic notion that the Council can be changed to restrain the enormous power, appetite and influence of the strongest and richest nations. This idea is rooted in the dream of democratic institutions within nation states, that rich and poor can elect representatives and determine policy in what passes for the general interest.
Difficult as it is at the national level, how could it possibly work in the war-torn world of global politics? Might one day the P-5 Ancien Regime collapse in a great crisis, under desperate pressure from a global citizens’ movement? What would it take to set such a process in motion? It may seem impossible, but so was the French revolution. We can be skeptical, but if we want peace we must press for change.
“This shocking ordeal and tragedy must not continue”, said Indrika Ratwatte, UNHCR’s Director for Asia and the Pacific.
“These are human beings – men, women and children”, he added.
Unraveling the situation
Reports indicate that they have been at sea in dire conditions for a month, lacking sufficient food or water, and with no efforts from any States in the region to help.
Many are women and children, with reports of up to 20 people dying on the unseaworthy vessel during the journey.
“We need to see the States in the region help save lives and not let people die”, underscored Mr. Ratwatte.
A month adrift
Since the first reports of the boat being sighted in Thai waters, UNHCR has received unverified information of the vessel being spotted near Indonesia and then subsequently off the coast of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India.
Its current location is reportedly once more back eastwards, in the Andaman sea north of Aceh.
UNHCR has repeatedly asked all countries in the region to make saving lives a priority and requested the Indian marine rescue centre earlier this week to allow for disembarkations.
“It is devastating to learn that many people have already lost their lives, including children”, added UNHCR’s Ratwatte.
Deadly year at sea
It is very difficult for UNHCR to verify the information, but if true, the number of dead and missing in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea will be recorded to nearly 200 this year alone.
All States have a responsibility to rescue those on the boat and allow them to safely disembark in the name of humanity, UNHCR spelled out.
Meanwhile, this shocking number represents around 10 per cent of the estimated 2,000 people who have taken risky sea journeys in the region since January.
“Sadly, this makes it one of the deadliest years in the seas in the region’’, lamented the UNHCR Director.
Saltwater tears
Yesterday UN-appointed independent human rights expert Tom Andrews issued a statement urging Governments to “immediately and urgently coordinate search and rescue for this boat and ensure safe disembarkation of those aboard before any further loss of life occurs”.
“While many in the world are preparing to enjoy a holiday season and ring in a new year, boats bearing desperate Rohingya men, women and young children, are setting off on perilous journeys in unseaworthy vessels”, said the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar.
In his plea to all regional Governments for “a more humane regional response” to those fleeing the junta’s brutal violence, including the Rohingya, Mr. Andrews called for “an absolute moratorium on any deportations or pushbacks to Myanmar” as well as harmonized search and rescues at sea.
Hazardous journeys
This is just the latest in a series of dangerous voyages, said the UN expert.
Two weeks ago, a Vietnamese oil company vessel on its way to Myanmar rescued one sinking boat with 154 Rohingya refugees aboard.
“As they were close to Myanmar waters, they reportedly handed the group over to Myanmar authorities”, he recounted.
“It has been reported that those aboard were placed in migration detention in Myanmar and may now face criminal charges”.
And last weekend, the Sri Lankan Navy rescued a third trawler in distress, carrying 104 Rohingya, including numerous children, some unaccompanied.
“The international community must step forward and assist regional actors to provide durable solutions for the Rohingya”, said Mr. Andrews.
Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not paid for their work.
The clear need to do much more to cut greenhouse gas emissions was again underscored throughout events in 2022, said the UN weather agency, advocating for strengthened climate change adaptation, including universal access to early warnings.
“This year we have faced several dramatic weather disasters which claimed far too many lives and livelihoods and undermined health, food, energy and water security and infrastructure”, said WMO chief Petteri Taalas.
On warmest track
While Global temperature figures for 2022 will be released in mid-January, the past eight years are on track to be the eight warmest on record, according to WMO.
While the persistence of a cooling La Niña event, now in its third year, means that 2022 will not be the warmest year on record, its cooling impact will be short-lived and not reverse the long-term warming trend caused by record levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.
Early warnings, increasing investment in the basic global observing system and building resilience to extreme weather and climate will be among WMO priorities in 2023 – the year that the WMO community celebrates its 150th anniversary.
WMO will also promote a new way of monitoring the sinks and sources of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide by using the ground-based Global Atmosphere Watch, satellite and assimilation modelling, which allows better understanding of how key greenhouse gases behave in the atmosphere.
Climate Indicators
Greenhouse gases are just one climate indicator used to observe levels.
Sea levels, which have doubled since 1993; ocean heat content; and acidification are also at recorded highs.
A young boy stands in front of a waterhole in a drought zone in Bangladesh.
National heat tolls
Although 2022 did not break global temperature records, it topped many national heat records throughout the world.
India and Pakistan experienced soaring heat in March and April. China had the most extensive and long-lasting heatwave since national records began and the second-driest summer on record.
And parts of the northern hemisphere were exceptionally hot and dry.
A large area centred around the central-northern part of Argentina, as well as in southern Bolivia, central Chile, and most of Paraguay and Uruguay, experienced record-breaking temperatures during two consecutive heatwaves in late November and early December 2022.
“Record breaking heatwaves have been observed in China, Europe, North and South America”, the WMO chief added. “The long-lasting drought in the Horn of Africa threatens a humanitarian catastrophe
And while large parts of Europe sweltered in repeated episodes of extreme heat, the United Kingdom hit a new national record in July, when the temperature topped more than 40°C for the very first time.
Record breaking rain
In East Africa, rainfall has been below average throughout four consecutive wet seasons – the longest in 40 years – triggering a major humanitarian crisis affecting millions of people, devastating agriculture, and killing livestock, especially in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.
Record breaking rain in July and August led to extensive flooding in Pakistan, which caused at least 1,700 deaths, displaced 7.9 million and affected 33 million people.
“One third of Pakistan was flooded, with major economic losses and human casualties”, reminded Mr. Taalas.
Sales of arms and military services by the 100 largest companies in the industry reached 592 billion US dollars in 2021, a 1.9% increase compared with 2020 in real terms. Credit: Shutterstock
by Baher Kamal (madrid)
Inter Press Service
MADRID, Dec 22 (IPS) – Day after day, international humanitarian organisations launch desperate appeals for funding to continue saving some of the many lives at high risk. When they get a handful of dollars –even just one million– from a rich country, they welcome it as manna from heaven.
Not only the available funding for humanitarian aid is already short, but next year will also set another record for humanitarian relief requirements, with 339 million people in need of assistance in 69 countries, an increase of 65 million people compared to the same time last year, the United Nations and partner organisations on 1 December 2022 said.
“The estimated cost of the humanitarian response going into 2023 is US$51.5 billion, a 25% increase compared to the beginning of 2022.”
Such highly needed 51.5 billion US dollars amount to less than one-tenth of the total sales of weapons which reached 592 billion US dollars just in one year: 2021.
“United Nations member countries need to overhaul the budgetary approval process for UN human rights work. The current system, overseen by the General Assembly’s Fifth Committee, is inefficient and overly politicised.”
Human rights mechanisms, exposed
It unnecessarily exposes UN human rights mechanisms – teams of independent experts established to investigate serious international crimes – to attempts by hostile governments to curtail their resources or defund them, adds Charbonneau.
Russia has repeatedly tried to defund investigations of its ally Syria, just as China has done for Myanmar. China and Russia have also worked hard to chip away at funding and staffing levels for other human rights activities and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, he said.
Even in their own rich countries, politicians go on cutting further the funding of social services such as public health, public education, and other programmes which citizens and taxpayers have voted for them to provide.
Simply, the wave of privatising all social public services now blows strongly from the United States to an overwhelming majority of countries.
Meanwhile, amidst growing social unrest, protests and strikes, politicians seem to have leaned under the heavy pressure of the arms industry, therefore devoting more and more public funds to purchasing weapons.
Arms sales increase for the seventh year
No wonder: sales of arms and military services by the 100 largest companies in the industry reached 592 billion US dollars in 2021, a 1.9% increase compared with 2020 in real terms, according to new data released on 5 December 2022 by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Such an increase marked the seventh consecutive year of rising global arms sales. It took place despite the fact that many parts of the arms industry were still affected by pandemic-related disruptions in global supply chains in 2021, which included delays in global shipping and shortages of vital components, says SIPRI.
‘We might have expected even greater growth in arms sales in 2021 without persistent supply chain issues,’ said Dr Lucie Béraud-Sudreau, Director of the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme.
“Both larger and smaller arms companies said that their sales had been affected during the year. Some companies, such as Airbus and General Dynamics, also reported labour shortages.”
Need to replenish weapons sent to Ukraine
According to the Stockholm-based peace research institute, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has added to supply chain challenges for arms companies, not least because Russia is a major supplier of raw materials used in arms production.
“This could hamper ongoing efforts in the United States and Europe to strengthen their armed forces and to replenish their stockpiles after sending billions of dollars’ worth of ammunition and other equipment to Ukraine.”
So far, the United States has reportedly spent 100 billion dollars on weapons provided to Ukraine.
US companies dominate the Top 100
The arms sales of the 40 US companies in the listing totalled 299 dollars billion in 2021, the research further explains. North America was the only region to see a drop in arms sales compared with 2020. The 0.8 per cent real-term decline was partly due to high inflation in the US economy during 2021.
Since 2018, the top five companies in the Top 100 have all been based in the USA.
A recent wave of mergers and acquisitions in the US arms industry continued in 2021. One of the most significant acquisitions was Peraton’s purchase of Perspecta, a government IT specialist, for 7.1 billion US dollars.
Private equity companies are becoming more active in the arms industry, particularly in the USA. This could affect the transparency of arms sales data, due to less stringent financial reporting requirements compared with public companies, according to the report.
Chinese companies drive rapid growth in Asian arms sales
The combined arms sales of the 21 companies in Asia and Oceania included in the Top 100 reached 136 billion US dollars in 2021—5.8 % more than in 2020, SIPRI reports. The eight Chinese arms companies in the listing had total arms sales of 109 billion dollars, a 6.3% increase.
There has been a wave of consolidation in the Chinese arms industry since the mid-2010s, said Xiao Liang, a researcher with the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme. In 2021 this saw China’s CSSC becoming the biggest military shipbuilder in the world, with arms sales of 11.1 billion US dollars, after a merger between two existing companies.
Europe, Russian and the Middle East among the top 100
In 2021 there were 27 Top 100 companies headquartered in Europe. Their combined arms sales increased by 4.2% compared with 2020, reaching 123 billion US dollars.
Meanwhile, six Russian companies are included in the Top 100 for 2021. Their arms sales totalled 17.8 billion US dollars—an increase of only 0.4% over 2020. There were signs that stagnation was widespread across the Russian arms industry, reports SIPRI.
And the five Top 100 companies based in the Middle East generated 15.0 billion US dollars in arms sales in 2021. This was a 6.5% increase compared with 2020, the fastest pace of growth of all regions represented in the Top 100.
Adolescents in Gujara Municipality of Rautahat District in Nepal perform a skit on child marriage as part of UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme on Ending Child Marriage. Credit: UNICEF/Kiran Panday
Opinion by Hyshyama Hamin (colombo, sri lanka)
Inter Press Service
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Dec 22 (IPS) – The writer is Campaign Manager – Global Campaign for Equality in Family LawIn September 2021, in the midst of a pandemic-related lockdown, a 15-year-old Muslim girl from Colombo, Sri Lanka was married off by her relatives to a much older man.
A local women’s rights group reported this case to the national child protection authorities, however, because child marriage is still legal under the country’s Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA), little could be done.
Nine months later, the girl was divorced by her husband at the Quazi (Muslim-judge) led court under a provision in the MMDA that allows him to unilaterally divorce at will and without any reason.
Many countries, especially in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Africa, continue to have civil, religious, or customary laws and practices on marriage and family matters that curtail the rights of women and girls.
An alarming finding in a new report, ‘Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The gender snapshot 2022’, released by UN Women and the UN Statistics Division, indicated that at the current rate of progress it may take up to 286 years to close gaps in legal protection between men and women and remove laws that discriminate against women and girls on the basis of their sex.
The report concluded that the world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030.
Sex discrimination in family law
Discrimination in family laws, specifically when it relates to marriage and family, spans from the time of entry into marriage, during the marriage, and at the time of dissolution of the marriage.
Organizations like Musawah have been mapping Muslim family laws in over 38 countries in three regions. Their research shows that the male guardianship system, where men are considered heads of the household and have legal authority over wives, daughters, and mothers, is very prevalent in MENA, South and Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Divorce rights continue to be unequal for women. In Algeria, Maldives, Malaysia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, women have more conditions and procedures than men in seeking a divorce.
Equal right to child custody and custody arrangements that center on the needs of the child, remains a challenge for mothers in the MENA region, and in Latin American countries like Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina.
Inheritance rights are still unequal in many parts of the world. World Bank (2018) data showed that at least 39 countries prevent daughters from inheriting the same proportion of assets as sons.
Family law is a critical issue of our time
Inequalities faced by women and girls under discriminatory family laws and practices affect all other areas of their lives.
According to the report by international women’s rights organization Equality Now, Words and Deeds: Holding Governments Accountable in the Beijing +25 Review Process, “sex discriminatory personal status laws violate women’s civil and political rights.” It gives examples of legal discrimination in numerous countries and notes that such laws, especially relating to property and inheritance, inhibit women’s full social and economic participation and opportunities.
There is also a direct correlation between legal authority and power afforded to males in the family, and restrictions on women’s autonomy and agency, along with an increased likelihood of experiencing sexual and domestic violence.
These inequalities have surged during the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing economic, political, and climate crises. In April 2020, UNFPA predicted that the COVID-19 pandemic may result in 13 million extra child marriages in the years immediately following this global health emergency.
Women activists calling for reform face serious opposition
For decades, women’s rights groups and activists in countries such as Malaysia, Morocco, India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Uganda, to name a few, have been advocating for the reform of unequal family laws. In Iran, women are currently leading the national struggle for free will to decide on matters of personal choice like dress code and other fundamental freedoms.
Activists calling for change face heavy opposition, including intimidation and threats from conservative religious and right-wing groups, who often claim that family laws and practices are a matter of freedom of religion and belief.
But rights groups are pushing back by repeatedly making the case that freedom of religion or belief can never be used to justify inequalities towards women and girls and that human rights cannot stop at the front door of a family home.
Despite growing evidence of the impacts of discriminatory family laws, state action and political will towards reforming discriminatory laws, especially family laws, is almost non-existent. In fact, in countries like Iran and Afghanistan, women activists also face direct risk and harm to life and limb from state authorities themselves.
The need for global action
The Global Campaign for Equality in Family Law was launched in March 2020 by eight leading women’s rights and faith-inspired organizations, as well as UN Women. The Campaign is calling for governments to prioritize equality in family law, policy, and practice, especially in light of multiple other crises that affect women and girls disproportionately.
In tandem, efforts of courageous community and national activists pushing for reform of discriminatory family laws need to be amplified and resourced. Regionally and globally, feminist movements must further promote family law reform as a crucial issue.
Achieving gender equality without equality in the family is impossible. We cannot wait 286 years before countries are free of laws, procedures, and practices that discriminate against women and girls.
The time to put family law reform on the agenda is now!
Some Afghan women put their lives at risk by migrating to Europe. Along the way, and even at the destinations, they face sexual violence at the hands of traffickers, but they often take the risk so that they can live free from the constraints of the Taliban. This photo shows a woman from the Hazara minority in Bamiyan. She used to be a singer and appeared on local TV but is now forced to stay at home. Credit: Sara Perria/IPS
by Sara Perria (kabul & athens)
Inter Press Service
KABUL & ATHENS, Dec 22 (IPS) – Maliha looks confident in a café in Athens as she tells the story of her journey from Afghanistan to Europe. But as she starts recounting how a smuggler assaulted her in Turkey two years ago, she pauses, looking the other way and fiddling with her loose hair.
It makes her anxious when she remembers it. She was traveling alone and soon realized she was the only woman on board a bus to the border with Greece.
“[The smuggler] told me to get off. He wanted me to himself.” With unusual strength, the young woman managed to escape as the man was trying to rape her. Still shaken, she tried to report the crime to the local police, but she felt they were more concerned about her status as an illegal migrant than the attempted rape. “Luckily, I had a contact on Facebook a cousin who I knew lived in Turkey but whom I never met.” He happened to live near that police station, and he convinced the officials to let her go.
Afghan refugees picnic in a park in Athens. Their journeys to Europe are often dangerous. Credit: Sara Perria/IPS
Now Maliha lives in Athens as a “free woman” – a fact that she remarks upon while wearing leggings and no head covering.
The violence experienced by Mahila is not an isolated case. An investigation into the journey of Afghan women from their home country to Europe carried out in Afghanistan, Turkey and Greece has revealed a pattern of systematic violence throughout, their vulnerability heightened by lack of documents and money. Women, some traveling alone or only with their children, pay to get to Europe only to become victims of trafficking and sex slaves.
According to 31-year-old Aila, an Afghan refugee and former Médecins sans Frontières worker in refugee camps in Athens, “some 90% of women suffer a form of violence during the journey.”
“When your life is in the hands of smugglers,” continues Aila, “it’s not up to you to decide whom to stay with, what to do, where to go: it’s the smuggler who decides. Even if you are with your family or the members of your family, he can still threaten you with a weapon, and if he wants to separate you from them, he’ll do it”.
Afghans are now the second largest group of asylum seekers in the EU after Ukrainians, but the flow of asylum seekers started well before the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021. According to the International Organization for Migration, nearly 77,000 women and girls were registered at arrival by sea and by land in Europe between 2018 and 2020, making up 20 percent of total arrivals. Women make up an increasing percentage of asylum requests globally, all facing gender-based risks.
The reasons behind Afghans’ search for a safe place run deep in a country torn by decades of war. Social and financial restrictions within a deeply patriarchal society and the hope for a better life abroad had already pushed many to leave the country even before the arrival of the Taliban.
However, the challenges of the journey can be harrowing. “I remember traveling with a 10-year-old and her grandmother,” Aila recalls. “During the journey, her grandmother died, and she was handed over to the trafficker,” says Aila, describing one of the most traumatic episodes she witnessed.
“Was she raped? Of course. For them, she was a woman”.
Women escaping from the increasingly restrictive Taliban regime in Afghanistan find their journeys to freedom are fraught with dangers. This week the Taliban banned women from universities. They are increasingly forced to remain at home. Credit: Credit: Sara Perria/IPS
The risks are so stacked against women that word of mouth has led to the development of ‘survival’ techniques, such as dressing up as a man. Aila says she put on a similar short jacket, jeans, and sneakers to that of other boys. “I kept my hair hidden under my cap. And when the trafficker gave me his hand to get on the boat, he said, “Hey, boy.” I didn’t answer. “Never talk to traffickers,” is the second ‘tip’ dispensed by Aila.
Acceptance rates of Afghan asylum seekers are now high, especially in countries such as Spain and Italy, with 100% and 95% in 2021, respectively, and 80% in Greece, the first EU frontier for the many who come after spending months or years in Turkey or Iran.
Yet getting adequate assistance after suffering abuse, rape and forced prostitution is a different story. The violence suffered often doesn’t get denounced by the police due to cultural or linguistic barriers and the stigma surrounding rape or forced prostitution. Lack of adequate protection in Europe is also a reason, so NGOs set up by fellow Afghans try to step in.
Months of interviews with Afghan asylum seekers in Afghanistan, Turkey, and Europe expose the extent of the danger for women who embark on a journey organized by smugglers. Direct witnesses’ accounts and NGO transcripts, seen exclusively by this reporter, reveal a pattern of how women – and in particular Afghans belonging to ethnic minorities – fall into a ‘trap’ of violence.
Freshta spent years between Iran and Turkey with a sick brother before eventually succeeding in reaching a refugee camp in Greece and then a place in Athens hosted by a friend. However, her attempts to find a job and become independent soon turned into a prolonged series of tortured experiences. The possibility of asking for help was radically reduced by her illegal status and lack of documents.
“One day, I was in a café with my friend, and she introduced me to this man. We only knew that he was a trafficker of Iraqi nationality.” He, himself a refugee, knew very well how vulnerable women like Freshta are. “He started following me and kept saying that I should go with him.” Her constant rejections didn’t work. On the contrary, he threatened to kill her brother, who was still in the refugee camp – a sign of the long reach of influence traffickers can call upon.
One day, despite attempts to protect herself, hiding for days at a friend’s house, the man managed to kidnap her and take her to her apartment. He then hit her on the head, threatening her with a knife pointed at her stomach and forcing her to get into his car. At that moment, Freshta became a slave, first suffering violent rape, with beatings that made her pass out because she also suffered from asthma.
“When I woke up, he wasn’t there. I was full of pain and didn’t know what to do; I was in shock. I went to the bathroom, got washed, dressed, and cried.”
Upon his return, the trafficker told her that she now belonged to him. If she went out and told anyone what had happened, then he would kill her.
Freshta managed to hide at her friend’s again, but again the man managed to take her by force, beating her and locking her up at home for weeks, repeatedly raping her. Freshta got pregnant. “He told me I couldn’t do anything because he had become a Greek citizen, and I was nothing; I didn’t have any document.”
It took many weeks and the help of an association to allow her to report the incident. She had an abortion. The woman has since been moved by the Greek government to a secure facility in an undisclosed location.
To add to Freshta’s tragic testimony is the fact that, as the operator of an NGO in Athens explains, “There are many cases of sexual slavery like this, which are not reported by the victims because they are afraid of being stigmatized and of their lack of documents.” The perpetrators of the violence can be fellow nationals, generally belonging to a different ethnic group and, to a lesser extent, other nationalities.
The lack of support is accentuated by a form of class distinction within the refugee community and by the way resources are thus distributed, according to some of the Afghan women interviewed in Athens. “The refugees who arrived in Europe through the evacuation program consider themselves ‘different’ from those who arrived here on foot, with the traffickers. And they are also treated differently by the authorities,” says Aila.
While for men, the lack of documents, money, and a family network leads more easily to labor exploitation, women can often fall victim to sexual exploitation. Some women are “passed from trafficker to trafficker,” says Aila, while the local association also reports cases of forced prostitution just outside the camps. But even in the aftermath of a violent attack, NGOs are worried about the short time women are allowed to spend in safe structures, as well as the limited space available there. Resources do not meet the seriousness and extent of the problem.
“When they asked me if I wanted to report the man , I said yes, but only if I had a safe place to stay first,” says Freshta. “I was so desperate that I left behind everything I had.”
This project on trafficking has been developed with the financial support of Journalismfund.eu
Crab cakes made with fonio, an ancient West African grain, or Ratatouille prepared with ‘imperfect’ produce to reduce food waste, are only a couple of the over 70 recipes included in the recently launched Cookbook in Support of the United Nations: For People and Planet.
The book – created in collaboration with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in consultation with other UN entities such as UNESCO, the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP), UN Climate Change and the UN Department of Global Communications – is the brainchild of Kitchen Connection, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that for a decade has been bridging together culinary arts, sustainability and education, and driving the discussions on the need for a food systems transformation.
“Understanding that cookbook consumption is on the rise and that people are using them as a source for education and inspiration, the idea for one had always been on our table,” Kitchen Connection founder and New York University Professor Earlene Cruz, explains to UN News.
But how is this cookbook different?
For People and Planet is divided into chapters that include food systems, biodiversity, sustainable consumption and production, climate, as well as food waste, providing recipes, yes, but also insights into the carbon footprint of each dish.
“We found that those in the highest-emitting countries in the world emit through our food choices about 3 kilograms of CO2 emissions per meal. The recipes in this book have 58.6 per cent less carbon compared to an average meal from high-emitting regions of the world. This book is dedicated to the planet,” Ms. Cruz says.
The cookbook also highlights and follows the UN World Health Organization’s (WHO) macronutrient guidelines, making the recipes not only healthy for the planet, but also for us.
But most of all, it puts a spotlight on how important our food choices are and how can they impact our immediate environment, no matter where we cook.
The climate cost of our food choices
Describing a quiche recipe shared by Lisa Johnson, a chef for NASA scientists in Antarctica, Ms. Cruz says: “This recipe contains [chicken] eggs, and in Antarctica, [chickens cannot] interact in any way with penguins, so chef Lisa had to cook that part of the recipe in a completely separate facility. This shows the challenges of cooking in remote areas.”
“The point is that whether we’re in cities, in suburban or rural areas, or somewhere as remote as Antarctica, consideration of our food choices and how they impact our immediate environment is paramount,” she adds.
The book features 75 recipes along with instructions for preparation but also reflections and stories, including from indigenous communities and farmers, the root source of the world food’s production chain.
The book’s contributors were brought together by Kitchen Connection, which offers an online platform for cooking classes and education.
“Activist, restaurateur, and entrepreneur Kimbal Musk also lent his voice and introduced this book, so from the Sioux indigenous community to Antarctica, [it] is reflective of the realities of our diverse food system and inherent culinary cultures. The most gratifying thing was seeing over 200 people coming together and signing up to support this cause,” Ms. Cruz emphasizes.
Ska Mirriam Moteane, a chef from Lesotho, shares, for example, a recipe for a dandelion salad tower that emits 87.58 per cent less carbon that the average meal in high-emitting countries such as the United States and China.
The dish promotes biodiversity by incorporating dandelion, a nutritious green that grows in the wild and in the local fields around her own home.
Sustainability is even built into the book itself: its pages are made of responsibly sourced wood fiber.
“There will always be a climate cost to producing something like this, but we tried our best, from start to finish to make the book itself, as well as its contents sustainable. This book, which is dedicated to the planet, is printed on [Forest Stewardship Council]-certified sustainable paper, understanding that this is how cookbooks are traditionally consumed in the hardcover format,” Ms. Cruz explains.
Why all this is important
According to FAO, food systems are contributing to, and affected by, extreme weather events associated with climate change, land degradation and biodiversity loss.
Tackling these challenges requires a systems-based approach that addresses the range and complexities in a comprehensive and sustainable manner. Initiatives like this cookbook aim to support the response.
“We can start with questions that help us understand the journey of our food: Where is it grown? Who grew it? How did it get to my plate? As aware and empowered individuals, we can band together to insist upon more sustainable practices from farms and food companies and demand bold climate policy from our governments,” the Kitchen Connection’s founder urges.
Ms. Cruz, who is also a member of the Civil Society Youth Representatives of the UN Department of Global Communications, underscores that it is necessary to eat more local biodiverse ingredients, and to decrease waste in the kitchen.
“But it also needs to taste good. So that is why we need to turn to the activists, chefs, farmers, and indigenous peoples, who truly know how to grow and create beautiful recipes to help guide us,” she adds.
Celebrity Chef Jose Andres, recognized for his culinary and humanitarian work, is another supporter and participant in the cookbook.
“By educating ourselves and each other on how to eat better for human and planetary health, we can limit the number of hungry people, by preventing and stopping natural disasters before they happen. The Cookbook in Support of the United Nations for People and the Planet is a wonderful example of that,” he said in a video message for the book’s launch event at COP27, the recent UN climate conference held in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt.
For Earlene Cruz, nature holds the answers, because “what is good for humans is good for the planet” as well.
“For example, indigenous Chef Rosalia Chay Chuc’s black bean recipe is the lowest-emitting recipe in the book. Beans, when consumed with other grains, provide us with complete proteins that are wonderful for human and planetary health. They are also soft to the soil and do not require a lot of water to grow. Nature itself provides the best ‘recipe’ and formula for human and planetary health,” she explains.
Other contributors include Food Systems expert Dani Nierenberg who shares a delicious recipe called Make Do Ratatouille which reduces food waste by using “imperfect ingredients” to make a “perfect dish” in the most delicious of ways.
“And Chef Pierre Thiam contributed a fonio recipe which uses a grain that was ‘rediscovered’, and which has completely revitalized the economy of Senegalese farmers in the region where fonio is grown, historically a place where people migrated to Europe in search of a better life while not recognizing the richness already in the land that they were fleeing”, Ms. Cruz tells UN News.
Into the future
The cookbook, which is already available at major bookstores and online retailers and can soon be purchased at the Visitor’s Centre at UN Headquarters in New York, is also set to come to life in 2023 as a documentary series that will include an exploration of indigenous communities and remote areas threatened by climate change.
“There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but when adapted to the local context, we can truly have a global impact through our food choices. We vote with our ballots as well as with our palates,” says Ms. Cruz.
For her, the book represents the beginning rather than the end of a wonderful collaboration and contribution that she hopes will positively impact global citizens everywhere.
“We want the book to get in the hands of the average person – which is why we partnered with a traditional publisher – to get this message out of echo chambers and into the hearts and minds of those who may not know or care (yet) about the strong symbiotic relationship between our food systems and the planet. We don’t just want to sell books; we want to make an impact and spread the word,” Ms. Cruz says.
A riverside park in Boa Vista, which would probably disappear with the construction of the Bem Querer hydroelectric plant, 120 kilometers downstream on the Branco River. The projection is that the reservoir would flood part of the capital of the state of Roraima, in the extreme north of Brazil. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS
by Mario Osava (boa vista, brazil)
Inter Press Service
BOA VISTA, Brazil, Dec 21 (IPS) – “Roraima did not have a Caribbean character; now it does, because of its growing relations with Venezuela and Guyana,” said Haroldo Amoras, a professor of economics at the Federal University of this state in the extreme north of Brazil.
The oil that the U.S. company ExxonMobil discovered off the coast of Guyana since 2015 generates wealth that will cross borders and extend to Roraima, already linked to Venezuela by energy and migration issues, predicted the economist, the former secretary of planning in the local government from 2004 to 2014.
Roraima, Brazil’s northernmost state, which forms part of the Amazon rainforest, is unique for sharing a border with these two South American countries on the Caribbean Sea and because 19 percent of its 224,300 square kilometers of territory is covered by grasslands, in contrast to the image of the lush green Amazon jungle.
It is also the only one of Brazil’s 26 states not connected to the national power grid, SIN, which provides electricity shared by almost the entire country. This energy isolation means the power supply has been unstable and has caused uncertainty in the search for solutions in the face of sometimes clashing interests.
From 2001 to 2019 it relied on imported electricity from Venezuela, from the Guri hydroelectric plant, whose decline led to frequent blackouts until the suspension of the contract two years before it was scheduled to end.
The closure of this source of electricity forced the state to accelerate the operation of old and new diesel, natural gas and biomass thermoelectric power plants. It also helped fuel the proliferation of solar power plants and the debate on cleaner and less expensive alternatives.
Alfredo Cruz would lose the restaurant and home he inherited from his great-grandfather, who registered the property in 1912. The Bem Querer reservoir would lead to the relocation of many riverside dwellers and would even flood part of the capital of the northern Brazilian state of Roraima, Boa Vista, 120 kilometers upriver. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS
The objectives range from influencing sectoral policies and stimulating renewable sources in the local market to monitoring government decisions for isolated systems, such as the one in Roraima, as well as proposing measures to reduce the costs and environmental damage of such systems.
“Not everyone (in the Forum) is opposed to the construction of the Bem Querer hydroelectric plant, but there is a consensus that there is a lack of information to evaluate its benefits for society and whether they justify the huge investment in the project,” biologist Ciro Campos, an ISA analyst and one of the Forum’s coordinators, told IPS.
Bem Querer, a power plant with the capacity to generate 650 megawatts, three times the demand of Roraima, is the solution advocated by the central government to guarantee a local power supply while providing the surplus to the rest of the country.
For this reason, the project is presented as inseparable from the transmission line between Manaus, capital of the state of Amazonas with a population of 2.2 million, and Boa Vista, the capital of Roraima, population 437,000. The line involves 721 kilometers of cables that would connect Roraima to the national grid.
Indigenous people in the northern Brazilian state of Roraima are striving to install solar plants in their villages and are studying how to take advantage of the winds in their territories, which are considered favorable for wind energy. Their aim is to prevent the construction of Bem Querer and other hydroelectric plants that would affect indigenous lands, according to Edinho Macuxi, coordinator of the Indigenous Council of Roraima. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS
“In its design, Bem Querer looks towards Manaus, not Roraima,” Campos complained, ruling out a necessary link between the power plant and the transmission line. “We could connect to the SIN, but with a safe and autonomous model, not dependent on the national system” and subject to negative effects for the environment and development, he argued.
Hydroelectric damage
The plant would dam the Branco River, the state’s main water source, to form a 519-square-kilometer reservoir, according to the governmental Energy Research Company (EPE). It would even flood part of Boa Vista, some 120 kilometers upstream.
The hydropower plant would both meet the goal of covering the state’s entire demand for electricity and abolish the use of fossil fuels, diesel and natural gas, which account for 79 percent of the energy consumed in the state, according to the distribution company, Roraima Energia.
But it would have severe environmental and social impacts. “It would make the riparian forests disappear,” which are almost unique in the extensive savannah area, locally called “lavrado,” of grasses and sparse trees, said Reinaldo Imbrozio, a forestry engineer with the National Institute of Amazonian Research (Inpa).
A view of the Branco River, five kilometers above where its waters would be dammed if the controversial Bem Querer hydroelectric plant is built, which would generate enough electricity to meet the entire demand of the Brazilian state of Roraima as well as a surplus for export, but would have environmental and social impacts magnified by the flatness of the basin that requires a very large reservoir. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS
In addition to the flooding of parts of Boa Vista, the flooding of the Branco and Cauamé rivers, which surround the city, will directly affect nine indigenous territories and will have an indirect impact on others, complained Edinho Macuxi, general coordinator of the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR), which represents 465 communities of 10 native peoples.
The CIR, together with ISA and the ICS, built two solar energy projects in the villages and carried out studies on the wind potential, already recognized in the indigenous territories of northern Roraima.
“The main objective of our initiatives is to prove to the central government that we don’t need Bem Querer or other hydroelectric projects…that represent less land and more confusion, more energy and less food for us,” he stressed to IPS at CIR headquarters.
“We will have to leave, said the engineers who were here for the studies of the river,” said Alfredo Cruz, owner of a restaurant on the banks of the Branco River, about five kilometers upstream from the site chosen for the dam. At that spot visitors can swim in the dry season, when the water level in the river is low.
Economics Professor Haroldo Amoras says the state of Roraima is becoming more Caribbean, because its economy is increasingly linked to its neighboring countries to the north of Brazil, Guyana and Venezuela, which, in addition to being importers, are the route to the Caribbean for Roraima’s agricultural and agro-industrial products. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS
The rapids there show the slight slope of the rocky riverbed. It is a flat river, without waterfalls, which means a larger reservoir. The heavy flow would be used to generate electricity in a run-of-river power plant.
Cruz inherited his restaurant and house from his great-grandfather. The title to the land dates back to 1912, he said. But they will be left under water if the hydroelectric plant is built, even though they are now located several meters above the normal level of the river, he lamented.
Riverside dwellers, fishermen and indigenous people will suffer the effects, Imbozio told IPS. The property of large landowners and people who own mansions will also be flooded, but they have been guaranteed good compensation, he added.
What the Forum’s Campos proposes is the promotion of renewable sources, without giving up diesel and natural gas thermoelectric plants for the time being, but reducing their share in the mix in the long term, and ruling out the Bem Querer dam, which he said is too costly and harmful.
Energy issues will influence the future of Roraima, according to Professor Amoras. The most environmentally viable hydroelectric plants, such as one suggested on the Cotingo River, in the northeast of the state, with a high water fall, including a canyon, are banned because they are located in indigenous territory, he said.
The participation of civil society is important for the Brazilian state of Roraima to make progress towards sustainable energy alternatives that can reduce diesel consumption, offer energy security and avoid the impacts of hydroelectric dams, according to Ciro Campos, an analyst with the non-governmental Socio-environmental Institute. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS
Oil wealth, route to the Caribbean
In the neighboring countries, oil wealth opens a market for Brazilian exports and, through their ports, access to the Caribbean. The Guyanese economy will grow 48 percent this year, according to the World Bank.
Roraima’s exports have grown significantly in recent years, although they reached just a few tens of millions of dollars last year.
Guyana’s small population of 790,000, the unpaved road connecting it to Roraima and the fact that the language there is English make doing business with Guyana difficult, but relations are expanding thanks to oil money.
This will pave the way to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), whose scale does not attract transnational corporations, but will interest Roraima companies, said Fabio Martinez, deputy secretary of planning in the Roraima state government.
Venezuela expanded its imports from Roraima, of local products or from other parts of Brazil, because U.S. embargoes restricted trade via ports and thus favored sales across the land border, he said.
“The liberalization of trade with the United States and Colombia will now affect our exports, but a recovery of the Venezuelan economy and the rise of oil can compensate for the losses,” Martinez said.
Roraima is a new agricultural frontier in Brazil and its soybean production is growing rapidly. But “we want to export products with added value, to develop agribusiness,” said Martinez.
That will require more energy, which in Roraima is subsidized, costing consumers in the rest of Brazil two billion reais (380 million dollars) a year. If the state is connected to the national grid through the transmission line from Manaus, there will be “more availability, but electricity will become more expensive in Roraima,” he warned.
WASHINGTON DC, Dec 21 (IPS) – There are two sides to the problem of Gender Parity at the United Nations.
On the one hand, member states need to appoint more women to their senior ambassadorial ranks. There is always tremendous competition for the post of UN ambassador, especially if a member state is on the UN security Council.
It’s a pipeline question for the member states. To reach that level of seniority, a diplomat has to have the years of service. It will likely take time for countries to have the flow through of women ambassadors. So, the UN Secretary-Genera (SG) is correct in putting the onus on member states to change or accelerate their systems.
That said, there is still a problem within the UN itself.
In the last 5 years, many governments notably the UK, Italy, the Scandinavians have sponsored the regional women’s mediation networks. For example. I’m a member of the Women Mediators Across the Commonwealth (WMC).
The vision was to identify women with the requisite skills and experience in mediation efforts and provide a new pathway into senior UN positions particularly as Envoys and mediation work. In the WMC we have 50 amazingly experienced women from across Commonwealth nations.
Similarly, the Mediterranean Women’s Mediation Network has members from that region. For senior positions, our governments have to support our candidacy, and they have done so.
But the UN system is a blockage, because when it comes to determining eligibility, their criteria still include things like ’15 years of UN experience’. Well, the whole point is that most of us have gained experience outside of the UN bureaucracy or as expert consultants with the UN, but not as UN staff.
We bring a wealth of other valuable expertise, yet the skill and knowledge that outsiders might bring seems of less value to the recruiters, than then traditional institutional knowledge. As a result, the female candidates that member states might endorse, are blocked by the UN.
If they are serious about having more women in the peace and security sector, particularly women with the relevant experience in inclusive and gender responsive peacemaking, security humanitarian work, they need to look for us in civil society. This is where most of the innovation has happened and is happening.
The work being done by women on the ground and lessons sharing that goes on through our networks is invaluable. It is exactly what the UN needs to be more fit for purpose. It is also the path towards actual reform and renovation of the UN architecture and practice.
But it can only happen if the member states and the UN leadership and bureaucracy have the vision, political will and willingness to change their recruitment priorities and practices.
Anyone claiming they can’t find the women, is willfully ignoring the facts.
Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, MBE, Founder & CEO, International Civil Society Action Network in Washington DC.
CANDELARIA, Cuba, Dec 20 (IPS) – Mayra Rojas is one of a small but growing number of people in Cuba benefiting from the production of biogas, a renewable energy source still little used in a country highly dependent on fossil fuels.
The biodigester in the back of her house in the rural community of Carambola, Candelaria municipality in the province of Artemisa, 80 kilometers west of Havana, brings Rojas the benefits of not using firewood and electricity for cooking, with the consequent reduction in electric bills and cooking time.
It was built in 2011 with the help of her husband Edegni Puche, who worked in the installation of the gas pipes and other aspects.
Rojas and Puche, who raise pigs and grow fruits and vegetables on their small family farm, were advised by specialists from the Cuban Society for the Promotion of Renewable Energy Sources and Respect for the Environment (Cubasolar) and the Movement of Biogas Users (MUB).
Rojas also received materials from the municipal government and the local pig company to build the small-scale Chinese-type fixed-dome biodigester of about six cubic meters in size.
She estimates that the total cost of the project ranged between 500 and 600 dollars at the exchange rate at the time.
Construction costs depend on the size, type and thickness of the material, as well as the characteristics of the site.
However, experts estimate that the average minimum cost for the construction of a small-scale biodigester – which more than covers the cooking needs of a household – currently stands at around 1,000 dollars in a country with an average monthly salary equivalent to 160 dollars at the official exchange rate.
Rojas says that “before, when we cleaned the pens, the manure, urine and waste from the pigs’ food piled up in the open air, in a corner of the yard. It stank and there were a lot of flies.”
The organic matter is now decomposed anaerobically by bacteria, but in a closed, non-polluting environment that provides methane gas as an energy resource, instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.
Thanks to the alternative energy source Rojas can also keep her nails painted and her hair clean for longer.
It also helped her husband and two young children become more involved in household chores, cleaning the yard and taking care of the animals on the family farm, “and created greater awareness of environmental care.”
In addition, biogas technology provides biol and biosol – liquid effluent and sludge, respectively – which are ideal for fertilizing and restoring soils, “as well as watering and keeping plants green,” says Rojas, who has a lush garden where she grows varieties of exotic orchids.
Her biodigester has also proven useful to the community, because when there are blackouts due to tropical cyclones that frequently affect the island, “neighbors have come to heat up water and cook their food,” she adds.
There are an estimated 5,000 biodigesters in Cuba, with the potential to expand the network to 20,000 units, at least the small-scale ones, according to conservative estimates by experts.
More than 90 percent of Cuba’s electricity comes from burning fossil fuels in aging thermoelectric plants and diesel and fuel oil engines, in a nation where a significant percentage of the 3.9 million homes use electric power as the main energy source for cooking and heating water for bathing.
NEW YORK, Dec 20 (IPS) – Promoting innovation and technology to promote inclusive development means using new technologies to enhance equal access to services, eliminate discrimination, increase transparency, and create a stable and just future for all – especially the most vulnerable and marginalized.
Obviously, the rule of law is a key driver of inclusive, equitable, and sustainable development, and empowers people from all strata of life to seek and obtain justice. Doing more with less is posing a challenge here. We are operating in an increasingly connected yet complex global and national settings and fiscally fragile environment.
Our traditional structures, systems and processes are proving to be inadequate to deal with new developmental challenges, pandemics, inaccessibility and exclusions, conflicts, and humanitarian crisis. Our governance and justice systems are not the most transparent and data friendly domain. Bringing that information to light is no easy task.
Barriers to Governance and Rule of Law
As indicated before, there are many barriers to accessing public services and ensuring accessible public health, rule of law, especially where there are high levels of poverty, marginalization, and insecurity. Governance institutions – formal and informal – may be biased or discriminatory. Public governance systems may be ineffective, slow, and untrustworthy.
In the last 3 years of pandemic, we also realized our public health system is often crippled by lack of investment, inclusive and accessible initiatives, and innovation. Discriminatory decision making and exclusivity further complicated the situation at all levels. People may lack knowledge about their rights.
Often legal assistance and consumer protection are out of reach, leaving people with little recourse to formal mechanisms for protection and empowerment. There may be a culture of impunity for criminal acts, unacceptable level of tolerance for exclusionary practices.
Other discriminations, injustices, and abuses in the family, or through deprivation and labour exploitation, may go unaddressed. Despite all these, more can be done to ensure that they benefit from the inclusive governance and public health work, and, rule of law practices, which expand their opportunities and choices.
Quest for New Ideas …
Despite all these, more can be done to ensure that the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups benefit from inclusive public health, legal empowerment, and access to justice, which expand their opportunities and choices.
We need fresh ideas, resources, and unconventional ways of collecting and analyzing data, such as using micro-narratives or innovative, accessible public hearings, targeted consultations, to complement traditional mechanisms including surveys. But innovation is rapidly becoming the new buzzword, so I would be careful in applying it here:
• Innovation is not cost-free and takes time so it should be mainstreamed:
• Innovation is both science and arts. And it should be seen as a standalone practice. one of the biggest problems that public sector innovation faces today is that governments have de facto created a ‘class of innovators,’ rather than making innovation an inclusive process that is open to anyone who has the motivation and capacity to influence change. This must change.
• Repackaging or reproduction is not innovation unless it caters to the specific needs of vulnerable and marginalized communities which are not supported by existing mechanisms and services.
• What is innovative in Bangladesh, Turkey, and Tanzania may not be so in India, Turkmenistan, Senegal, or Mexico;
• Big data is important but harnessing it for the right cause should be central consideration. Linking it with better evidence base is of critical significance. The COVID-19 challenges amply demonstrated it.
• Going beyond social networking is key – while Facebook, Twitter and other Social Media outlets play an admirable role in connecting people, these are not enough to solving a protracted problem and sustaining a solution. We must also be mindful of the recent trend of using social media to silence public defenders, journalists, and whistle blowers. The twitter is a case in point (December 2022).
• Innovative ideas, while refreshing, need to be pragmatic so that they can be implemented. They mast be part of a solution, not the overall problem.
• Evidence of impact is more important than the novelty factor.
Innovation and New Technologies for Solutions
My own take is that ideas do not need to be always transformational or revolutionary. Our platforms can replicate or even recycle what already works by introducing successful models to new actors and environments.
Even seemingly ordinary things can become innovative in different terms, approaches, or settings. linking inclusion to innovation is not only about looking at how it can advance policies and create better impact for governments, but also about giving people, public servants, and citizens alike, the self-efficacy, power, and freedom to direct change in the way they see necessary. This contributes directly to the making of inclusive development.
New technologies are changing the lives of people around the world. In the same way that they make daily tasks simpler, they can make official and routine interactions with government institutions, service providers easier and can provide innovative solutions to a host of public sector governance, public health, and rule of law challenges.
Technology has an immense untapped potential to strengthen inclusive practices for governance including public health governance, and the rule of law. Technological innovation must provide equal access to services, help to eliminate discrimination, and assure more transparency and accountability. They must not be used to silence voices, deny human rights, or create justifications for maladministration, inaccessibility, and exclusions.
As we are approaching 2023 in a few days, let us hope for a more inclusive and diverse public sector governance rooted in human rights values and practices.
Dr. A.H. Monjurul Kabir, currently UN System Coordination Adviser and Global Team Leader for Gender Equality, Disability Inclusion/Intersectionality at UN Women HQ in New York, is a thought leader, political scientist and senior policy and legal analyst on global issues and regional trends. For policy and academic purpose, he can be contacted at [email protected]. He can be followed in twitter at mkabir2011
Final plenary session of COP15. Some analysts say the adopted framework is a good compromise. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS
by Stella Paul (montreal)
Inter Press Service
Montreal, Dec 20 (IPS) – In a landmark agreement, all parties of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) adopted the draft Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) to protect at least 30% of the world’s lands and water by 2030.
Led by China and facilitated by the CBD, the parties of the convention adopted the draft very late on Sunday night, after 12 days of intense negotiations over 23 targets that, put together, make the framework for biodiversity protection until 2030.
The Old vs. New GBF
When COP15 negotiations began on December 7, the GBF had 22 targets. However, on December 19, the final day of the COP, there were 23 targets in the adopted document. There have not been any new additions, but Target 19 – focused on finance – has been divided into two targets: Target 19 and Target 20. Target 20, therefore, is now Target 21, Target 21 is Target 22, and Target 22 is now Target 23.
The adopted document looks leaner and shorter compared to the version presented before the parties on December 7. However, the new version – presented by China on Saturday and adopted later by all parties – has all the text considered crucial.
For example, on Target 3 – widely considered as the lifeline of the GBF and equivalent to the Climate Change COP’s goal of keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees – the old text was long and somewhat vague, with too many details but no indication of action.
In Target 19.1, focusing on resource mobilization, the draft framework proposed to increase financial resources progressively and annually from all sources by reaching at least $200 billion by 2030.
The adopted framework has a more straightforward but detailed language: “Raise international financial flows from developed to developing countries … to at least US$ 20 billion per year by 2025, and at least US$ 30 billion per year by 2030.”
In Target 22, the draft version read: “Ensure women and girls equitable access and benefits from conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, as well as their informed and effective participation at all levels of policy and decision making related to biodiversity.”
The adopted version of this target has a language that is richer and more action-oriented: “Ensure gender equality in the implementation of the framework through a gender-responsive approach where all women and girls have equal opportunity and capacity to contribute to the three objectives of the Convention, including by recognizing their equal rights and access to land and natural resources and their full, equitable, meaningful and informed participation and leadership at all levels of action, engagement, policy, and decision-making related to biodiversity.”
The Big Decisions
In addition to the GBF, the parties at COP15 have approved a series of related agreements on the framework’s implementation, including planning, monitoring, reporting, and review; resource mobilization; helping nations to build their capacity to meet the obligations; and digital sequence information on genetic resources.
For example, Digital sequence information on genetic resources – a dominant topic at COP15 – has many commercial and non-commercial applications, including pharmaceutical product development, improved crop breeding, taxonomy, and monitoring invasive species.
Francis Ogwal and Basile Van Havre, co-chairs of the Global Biodiversity Framework, at a press meeting after the framework was adopted. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS
COP15 delegates agreed to establish a multilateral fund for the equal sharing of benefits between providers and users of DSI within the GBF.
Another big decision was to create a specific fund for biodiversity within the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) – the nodal agency that receives, channelizes and distributes all funds for environmental protection in the world. Reacting to the decision, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, GEF CEO and Chairperson, called GBF a significant breakthrough and supported the creation of the fund.”
“Resource mobilization has been a central theme here in Montreal over the last two weeks, both to reach an ambitious agreement, and to ensure it is implemented. I am therefore honored and extremely pleased that the Conference of the Parties has requested the GEF to establish a Global Biodiversity Fund as soon as possible, to complement existing support and scale up financing to ensure the timely implementation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework,” Rodriguez said in a press statement.
A Good Compromise
Jennifer Corpuz of Indigenous People’s Forum for Biodiversity (IPFB), an umbrella of over 10 thousand indigenous organizations across the world, had been lobbying intensely to ensure mainstreaming of indigenous peoples’ rights in the GBF, called the adopted document, a “good compromise” and “a good start.”
According to Corpuz, the GBF – now known as “The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework,” contains strong language on all targets that concern indigenous peoples and local communities. The language is very strong, especially in the areas of spatial planning (Target 1), area-based conservation (Target 3), customary sustainable use (Targets 5 and 9), traditional knowledge (Goal C, Targets 13 and 21), and participation and respect for the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities to lands, territories, and resources (Target 22).
“The Framework should be celebrated as a historic step towards transforming how we approach biodiversity conservation. The text provides a strong basis for countries to walk hand in hand with Indigenous peoples in addressing the biodiversity crisis and in ensuring that the negative legacy of conservation on Indigenous peoples will be corrected,” Corpuz told IPS.
Basile Van Havre – the co-chair of the framework, appeared to agree with Corpuz. Answering a question on the implications and meaning of various terms such as “equitable governance” in the GBF, Havre told IPS, “it would help local governments to create a mechanism for working together with different sections of the populations, especially the Indigenous peoples.”
On the adoption of a gender target (Target 23) and the adoption of the Gender Action Plan, the CBD Women’s Caucus expressed their gratitude to various parties for their support. A group of women also broke out in a jubilant dance – an expression of their joy and relief after years of persuasion to include Gender as a stand-alone target in the GBF.
The next steps and challenges ahead
According to experts, the success of the GBF will heavily lie on two factors: 1) Adopting and operationalizing GBF indicators relevant to each target and 2) Creating a mechanism quickly for those decisions that involve a multilateral system.
For example, under the new GBF, finances for biodiversity will come from rich and developed nations and private investors. But the pathways and mechanisms for these are yet to be decided, and the sooner these are done, the better it will be for all parties to begin implementing the framework.
A lot will also depend on how quickly the countries can revise their current National Biodiversity Action Plans to make ways for implanting new decisions under the GBF, according to Francis Ogwal, CBD co-chair of the GBF.
Others have also cautioned that if countries are not able to make necessary policy changes, there is a risk that the GBF could fail.
“The agreement represents a major milestone for the conservation of our natural world, and biodiversity has never been so high on the political and business agenda, but it can be undermined by slow implementation and failure to mobilize the promised resources. Governments have chosen the right side of history in Montreal, but history will judge all of us if we don’t deliver on the promise made today,” warned Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International.
The agreement also obligates countries to monitor and report on a large set of “headlines” and other indicators related to progress against the GBF’s goals and targets every five years or less. Headline indicators include the percent of land and seas effectively conserved, the number of companies disclosing their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity, and many others.
The CBD will combine national information submitted by late February 2026 and late June 2029 into global trends and progress reports.
Government delegations celebrate the close of the historic negotiation at COP15 of the New Global Framework on Biodiversity in the early hours of the morning on Monday Dec. 19, at the Palais des Congrès in Montreal, Canada. CREDIT: Mike Muzurakis/IISD
by Emilio Godoy (montreal)
Inter Press Service
Its fate now depends on the new Kunming-Montreal Global Framework on Biodiversity, which was agreed by the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on Monday Dec. 19, at the end of the summit held since Dec. 7 at the Palais des Congrès in Montreal.
Now, the world’s countries must translate the results into national biodiversity strategies, to comply with the new accord. In this regard, David Ainsworth, spokesman for the CBD, in force since 1993 and based in Montreal, announced the creation of a global accelerator for the drafting of national plans, with the support of U.N. agencies.
COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity approved a new program to protect the world’s natural heritage for the next 10 years during the summit held in the Canadian city of Montreal. The picture shows a statue of a polar bear, whose species is threatened by melting ice and habitat loss, on a street in Montreal. CREDIT: Emilio Godoy/IPS
The menu of agreements
COP15, whose theme was “Ecological Civilization: Building a shared future for all life on earth”, approved four objectives on improving the status of biodiversity, reducing species extinction, fair and appropriate sharing of benefits from access to and use of genetic resources, and means of implementation of the agreement.
In addition, the plenary of the summit, which brought together some 15,000 people representing governments, non-governmental organizations, academia, international bodies and companies, agreed on 23 goals within the Global Framework, for the conservation and management of 30 percent of terrestrial areas and 30 percent of marine areas by 2030, in what is known in U.N. jargon as the 30×30.
This includes the complete or partial restoration of at least 30 percent of degraded terrestrial and marine ecosystems, as well as the reduction of the loss of areas of high biological importance to almost zero.
Likewise, the agreement reached by the 196 States Parties at COP15 includes the halving of food waste, the elimination or reform of at least 500 billion dollars a year in subsidies harmful to biodiversity, and at least 200 billion dollars in funding for biodiversity by 2030 from public and private sources.
It also endorsed increasing financial transfers from countries of the industrialized North to nations of the developing South by at least 20 billion dollars by 2025 and 30 billion dollars by 2030, and the voluntary publication by companies for monitoring, evaluation and disclosure of the impact of their activities on biodiversity.
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) will manage a new fund, whose operation will be defined by the countries over the next two years.
With regard to digital sequence information (DSI) on genetic resources, the Global Framework stipulates the establishment of a multilateral fund for benefit-sharing between providers and users of genetic resources and states that governments will define the final figure at COP16 in Turkey in 2024.
The Global Framework also contains gender and youth perspectives, two strong demands of the process that was initially scheduled to end in the city of Kunming, China, in 2020. But because that country was unable to host mass meetings due to its zero-tolerance policy towards COVID-19, a first virtual chapter was held there and another later in person, and the final one now took place in Montreal.
The states parties are required to report at least every five years on their national compliance with the Global Framework. The CBD will include national information submitted in February 2026 and June 2029 in its status and trend reports.
With some differences, civil society organizations and indigenous peoples gave a nod to the Global Framework, but issued warnings. Viviana Figueroa, representative of the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity, and Simone Lovera, policy director of the Global Forest Coalition, applauded the agreement in conversations with IPS, while pointing out its risks.
“It’s a good step forward, because it recognizes the role of indigenous peoples, the use of biodiversity and the role of traditional knowledge,” said Figueroa, an Omaguaca indigenous lawyer from Argentina whose organization brings together indigenous groups from around the world to present their positions at international environmental meetings.
“It has been a long process, to which native peoples have contributed and have made proposals. The most important aspects that we proposed have been recognized and we hope to work together with the countries,” she added.
But, she remarked, “the most important thing will be the implementation.”
Goal C and targets one, three, five, nine, 13, 21 and 22 of the Global Framework relate to respect for the rights of native and local communities.
Lovera, whose organization brings together NGOs and indigenous groups, said the accord “recognizes the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, and of women. It also includes a recommendation to withdraw subsidies and reduce public and private investments in destructive activities, such as large-scale cattle ranching and oil palm monoculture.”
But indigenous and human rights organizations have questioned the 30×30 approach on the grounds that it undermines ancestral rights, blocks access to aboriginal territories, and requires consultation and unpressured, informed consent for protected areas prior to any decision on the future of those areas.
Discussions at the Convention on Biological Diversity summit intensified in the last few days of COP15 and ran late into the night, as in this session on health and biodiversity. But in the end, agreement was reached on a new Global Framework on Biodiversity, which will be binding on the 196 states parties. CREDIT: IISD/ENB
Major challenge
While the Global Framework has indicators and monitoring mechanisms and is legally binding, it has no actual teeth, and the precedent of the failed Aichi Targets casts a shadow over its future, especially with the world’s poor track record on international agreements.
The Aichi Biodiversity Targets, adopted in 2010 in that Japanese city during the CBD’s COP10 and which its 196 states parties failed to meet in 2020, included the creation of terrestrial and marine protected areas; the fight against pollution and invasive species; respect for indigenous knowledge; and the restoration of damaged ecosystems.
Several estimates put the amount needed to protect biological heritage at 700 billion dollars, which means there is still an enormous gap to be closed.
In more than 30 years, the GEF has disbursed over 22 billion dollars and helped transfer another 120 billion dollars to more than 5,000 regional and national projects. For the new period starting in 2023, the fund is counting on some five billion dollars in financing.
In addition, the Small Grants Program has supported around 27,000 community initiatives in developing countries.
“There is little public funding, more is needed,” Lovera said. “It’s sad that they say the private sector must fund biodiversity. In indigenous territories money is needed. They can do much more than governments with less money. Direct support can be more effective and they will meet the commitments.”
The activist also criticized the use of offsets, a mechanism whereby one area can be destroyed and another can be restored elsewhere – already used in countries such as Chile, Colombia and Mexico.
“This system allows us to destroy 70 percent of the planet while preserving the other 30 percent,” Lovera said. “It is madness. For indigenous peoples and local communities, it is very negative, because they lose their own biodiversity and the compensation is of no use to them, because it happens somewhere else.”
Figueroa said institutions that already manage funds could create direct mechanisms for indigenous peoples, as is the case with the Small Grants Program.
Of the 609 commitments that organizations, companies and individuals have already made voluntarily at COP15, 303 are aimed at the conservation and restoration of terrestrial ecosystems, 188 at alliances, and 159 at adaptation to climate change and reduction of polluting emissions.
The summit also coincided with the 10th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the 4th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits from their Utilization, both components of the CBD.
Images of the planet’s sixth mass extinction reflect the size of the challenge. More than a quarter of some 150,000 species on the IUCN Red List are threatened with extinction.
The “Living Planet Report 2022: Building a nature-positive society”, prepared by the WWF and the Institute of Zoology in London, shows that Latin America and the Caribbean has experienced the largest decline in monitored wildlife populations worldwide, with an average decline of 94 percent between 1970 and 2018.
With a decade to act, each passing day represents more biological wealth lost.
“There is no migration crisis; there is a crisis of solidarity” says UN Secretary-General, António Guterres. Credit: Credit: UNOHCR
by Baher Kamal (madrid)
Inter Press Service
MADRID, Dec 19 (IPS) – When tens of thousands of Europeans had to flee the horrors of two born-in-Europe devastating armed conflicts that attracted other powers: the World Wars I and II, they migrated to the Americas and other Western countries in search of safe haven.
Upon their arrival at their destination, they were checked at the border and admitted to enter as useful workforce.
Seldom, if ever, anybody classified them as “illegal” migrants. Those human beings were fleeing the horrors of those wars.
Now that millions of people are forced to flee the horrors not only of wars but also of additional waves of devastation, from a climate emergency they did not create to a train of world’s financial crisis originated in and by the world’s most industrialised -and richest- powers, these migrants are classified as “illegal.”
There have been different approaches to get around what the right to far-right political parties in Europe, the United States, Australia, among several others, call “invasion,” a “threat to our civilisation,” “our democracy,” and “our religion,” let alone that they represent a “high risk of terrorism.”
Here, there is an open message from the rich West to these poor migrants: ‘don’t you dare come here, unless….’
Unless you bring money: in the aftermath of the 2008 world financial crisis, several industrialised countries followed the example of the by then United Kingdom’s government, i.e., migrants were admitted provided they have money enough to buy a property and open a sound bank account;
Unless you are highly skilled: another criteria used to admit migrants depends on their professional, useful capacity;
And unless you are “like us”: such is the case of the tens of thousands of human beings attempting to escape the horrors of another, absolutely condemnable war, the European proxy war unfolding in Ukraine. Hungarian President, Viktor Orban, referred to Ukrainians as “they look like us… they are like us.”
If migrants do not enjoy these conditions, they are immediately called “illegal,” and thus non-admitted. And those who had already arrived are being sweept away from the US and Europe.
Why such a race to expel migrants?
The trend to expel migrants has steadily increased in this year 2022, coincidently –or not– proxy war in Ukraine started in February, pushing millions of Ukrainian citizens to flee the horrors of this condemnable armed conflict.
All Western countries, in particular Europe, have opened their doors to those millions of migrants and refugees, to whom all sorts of humanitarian assistance are rightly provided.
In contrast, millions of other human beings are fleeing horror, looking for ways to survive and a job that allows their families and themselves to stay alive.
Migrants workers “dehumanised”
“Migrant workers are often dehumanised”, said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Volker Türk, reminding that “they are human beings entitled to human rights and full protection of their human dignity”.
No one should have to surrender their human right to migrate in order to find a living wage, the UN human rights office, OHCHR said in a new report published on 16 December 2022, highlighting the importance of temporary migratory labour programmes.
The report points to just some of the abuse, discrimination, and inhuman treatment of migrants: as part of some seasonal schemes, migrants are expected to work on Saturdays and Sundays, leaving them no time to attend religious services.
Migrant domestic workers in other States have reported being told they would be fired, if they prayed or fasted while at work.
Some migrant construction workers report receiving sub-standard medical care in clinics provided by their employers.
Enforced disappearances
Migrants are particularly at risk during what are often arduous journeys just trying to reach their destination, warn UN-appointed independent?human rights experts.
The experts stressed that States must coordinate in “preventing the yearly disappearances of thousands of migrants en route.”
Citing International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates, they said that over 35,000 migrants have died or disappeared since 2014.
“However, there are no exact figures on the proportion of enforced disappearances in cases involving State agents or people acting with the authorisation, support or acquiescence of countries.”
But information indicates that most disappearances occur “during detention or deportation proceedings or because of migrant smuggling or trafficking,” said the UN-appointed human rights experts.
Blanket refusals, detention, expulsions
They blamed States’ rigid border management and migration policies for many disappearances, citing policies that include “blanket refusals of entry; criminalization of migration; and mandatory, automatic, or extensive use of immigration detention; and arbitrary expulsions.”
“These factors encourage migrants to take more dangerous routes, to put their lives in the hands of smugglers and to expose themselves to a higher risk of human rights violations and enforced disappearance”, the experts spelt out.
Misleading promises
Every year, millions leave their countries under temporary labour migration programmes that promise economic benefits for destination countries and development dividends to countries of origin.
The report details how in many cases temporary work schemes impose a range of “unacceptable human rights restrictions.”
It highlights how migrant workers are “often forced to live in overcrowded and unsanitary housing, unable to afford nutritious food, denied adequate healthcare, and face prolonged and sometimes mandatory separation from their families.”
Moreover, policies that exclude them from government support in some countries put migrants at a disproportionate risk of COVID-19 infection, the report says.
“They should not be expected to give up their rights in return for being able to migrate for work, however crucial it is for them and their families, and for the economies of their countries of origin and destination”, Türk underscored.
On it, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, stated that today, over 80% of the world’s migrants cross borders in a safe and orderly fashion.
On this International Migrants Day, “we reflect on the lives of the over 280 million people who left their country in the universal pursuit of opportunity, dignity, freedom, and a better life,” he said.
“Today, over 80 per cent of the world’s migrants cross borders in a safe and orderly fashion.” This migration is a powerful driver of economic growth, dynamism, and understanding.
Over the past eight years, at least 51,000 migrants have died – and thousands more have disappeared. Behind each number is a human being – a sister, brother, daughter, son, mother, or father.
“Migrant rights are human rights” the United Nations chief reminded. “They must be respected without discrimination – and irrespective of whether their movement is forced, voluntary, or formally authorised.”
Is there a ‘migration crisis’?
Guterres also highlighted the urgent need to expand and diversify rights-based pathways for migration – to advance the Sustainable Development Goals and address labour market shortages.
“There is no migration crisis; there is a crisis of solidarity.” Today and every day, let us safeguard our common humanity and secure the rights and dignity of all.”
How many migrants?
In recent years, conflict, insecurity, and the effects of climate change, war and conflict have heavily contributed to the forced movement whether within countries or across borders.
In 2020 over 281 million people were international migrants while over 59 million people were internally displaced by the end of 2021.
The UN underlines that regardless of the reasons that compel people to move, migrants and displaced people represent some of the most vulnerable and marginalised groups in society…,
… and they are often exposed to abuse and exploitation, have limited access to essential services including healthcare, and are faced with xenophobic attacks and stigma fueled by misinformation.
On the other hand, many migrant workers are often in temporary, informal, or unprotected jobs, which exposes them to a greater risk of insecurity, layoffs, and poor working conditions.
“Due to persistent lack of safe and regular migration pathways, millions continue to take perilous journeys each year. Since 2014 more than 50,000 migrants have lost their lives on migratory routes across the world.”
Despite all the above, and of all World and International conventions, declarations, and commitments which have been adopted by all States, reality shows that some migrants are more equal –and human– than others.
Women doing on-the-spot training at COP15. Target 22 is being held up by a single word. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS
by Stella Paul (montreal)
Inter Press Service
Montreal, Dec 19 (IPS) – Since the beginning of the high-level segment, tensions have been steadily rising at the 15th meeting of the conference of the parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15) among all participants, including members of country delegation teams, NGOs, observers, monitors, and media. At the press events held daily at the media center and various other events in the Montreal Convention Center, an outburst of anger and frustration have become a common sight.
In the middle of such high drama, there is one corner at the COP – the Women’s Pavilion in the Palace Quebec room that presents a very different picture: a group of women sitting in a circle on low stools, intently listening to a fellow woman speak about easy and effective ways to connect, coordinate, and collaborate with their community members.
“That is a training in session,” says Mrinalini Rai – the director of Women4Biodiversity – a global coalition of dozens of women-led organizations worldwide working together to get gender equality mainstreamed into the CBD Global Biodiversity Framework. In March this year, in the 3rd Working Group meeting of the CBD in Geneva, CBD first received a proposal for a stand-alone target on gender to the GBF, which, at that time, had 21 targets. The proposal was officially tabled by Costa Rica and supported by GRULAC – a group with 11 member countries from Latin America and West Africa. These are Guatemala, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Chile, Cote d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Togo, Benin, Cameroon, and Tanzania. Today, barely nine months later, the GBF consists of 22 targets – an inclusion that reflects an extraordinary level of coordination among the women’s coalition and their astonishing level of lobbying with different parties.
Target 22 at COP15: A Quick Look
Target 22 aims to “Ensure women and girls equitable access and benefits from conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, as well as their informed and effective participation at all levels of policy and decision-making related to biodiversity.”
On the sidelines of the high-level segment of COP15, Rai spoke to IPS News on the struggle that has gone behind the current status of Target 22, the level of support it has received from the parties, and the area of contention that still remain to be resolved.
“It has been really a long journey that has taken years of advocacy, lobbying, discourses, and consultations around the importance of recognizing rights of all women and girls at the heart of the Convention,” Rai says candidly before adding that the gender target has received overwhelming support of all parties of the biodiversity convention at COP15. “There are 196 parties to this convention apart from the US, which is a non-party, and the Holy See (the Vatican). Right now, nobody has objected to having a target (22),” Rai reveals.
Mrinalini Rai, Coordinator of Women’s Caucus. Stella Paul/IPS
The reason is simple: mainstreaming gender into all the targets and goals of the biodiversity framework seems easier to perceive and understand far more easily than the other cross-cutting themes like finance or human rights. “If you are looking at how gender mainstreams into COP15 targets, for example, Access and Benefit Sharing, traditional knowledge, etc. – you immediately think of knowledge of women and then how do you ensure women have access. There are some very complicated issues in the COP like DSI (Digital Sequencing Information), invasive species, marine, and coastal biodiversity, etc., but whatever spaces you are looking at, gender ties to it,’ Rai says.
Gender-responsive vs. Gender sensitive – the last remaining challenge
Despite its broad support, however, the target doesn’t have a completely clean text yet. Incredibly, a single country – Russia – has raised objections to a single word, putting that within brackets.
According to Rai, on the opening day of COP15, in the working group’s plenary, Russia put a bracket on the ‘responsiveness’ in the text. This means that although the rest of the text is clean, the target 22 is not ready to be adopted yet because of this single bracket. However, the Women’s Caucus – a group of civil society organizations that is the main focal contact for all gender-related issues and has support from the CBD secretariat – is talking to the Russian delegation and pursuing them to either lift their objection or come up with an alternative that will be acceptable to all.
“Russia said that they want to replace “gender-responsive” with the term “gender-sensitive”. Now, for us, the word sensitive doesn’t really mean anything concrete. It is like being aware of something. You have been sensitized about gender, so now you are gender-sensitive or aware of gender. But the term “gender-responsive” demands action; it means there is an action for you to take and to be held accountable,” Rai explains.
Preparing for the Next Steps
While the lobbying continues, several Women’s Caucus members are already thinking ahead of COP15, strategizing for the time when countries will move to the implementation phase of the Gender Action Plan.
“It will be crucial how everything unfolds at the local level. At this point, it feels a little concerning to the national policies of respective countries in designing a compatible program for women-based organizations and women in the community to have access to finance. But as we see practically, it’s very hard for women to have that access because, one, they are not in any structure that could get them financing, and two, women, particularly in the rural areas, can’t even have access to the necessities, let alone access finance for climate or biodiversity. So, it’s important to engage grassroots women and civil society in the planning mechanism so that financing can be down streamed,” says Tsegaye Frezer Yeheyis, who heads Mahibere Hitwot of Social Development – an Ethiopian NGO and member of the Women’s Caucus.
Sharon Ruthia, a lawyer from Kenya who counsels on gender and biodiversity, further adds, “it will be important for the countries to design a mechanism to build the capacity of women – technically and financially,’
And how can gender be mainstreamed into crucial issues like DSI outside the GBF and are also contentious? Cecilia Githaiga, another lawyer from Women4Biodiversity, shares some insights: “The biggest challenge (for gender mainstreaming is that the discussions on Nagoya Protocol are very fragmented at this moment. It would be good if these discussions were focused, then there would be a single mechanism for reporting, and that would help us women (who are not able to spread all over) still follow up, monitor, and tell when we are making progress and when there is a need for upscaling.’
When the whole chance of the target is hanging by the thread of one word, it’s easy to be frustrated, especially after crossing such a long journey. However, Target 22 advocates are making a brave effort to be positive. “We do have parties who support the word ‘responsiveness,’ so we are hoping that all 195 countries will support it. This hasn’t yet come to the working groups or the contact groups, so we are keeping an eye on that,” Rai concludes in a hopeful voice.
A laboratory technician works at a health and science centre in Bangkok, Thailand. It is a WHO Collaborating Centre for research and training on viral zoonoses. Credit: WHO/P. Phutpheng
Opinion by Roopa Dhatt – David Bryden – Gill Adynski (washington dc/ chapel hill, north carolina/ geneva)
Inter Press Service
WASHINGTON DC/ CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA/ GENEVA, Dec 19 (IPS) – Health services don’t deliver themselves. It is the nurse who triages in the emergency department, the midwife who delivers babies and cares for mothers, the community health worker who gives babies vaccines, the care assistant who bathes someone at home, the surgeon who performs the operation, the anesthetist who blocks the pain, the pharmacist who matches the script to the medication, and the physiotherapist who restores movement.
Universal Health Coverage Day on 12 December is the annual rallying point for the growing movement for health for all. It marks the anniversary of the United Nations’ historic and unanimous endorsement of universal health coverage in 2012.
With Universal Health Coverage Day (December 12) just behind us, it is critical to recognize the contribution of health workers, most of whom are women, and call for political leaders to urgently recognize and address the escalating resignations, shortfalls, and staff movements putting health security at all levels, from local to global at risk.
Listening to organizations who represent frontline health workers, community health workers, nurses, family doctors, and health professionals, we hear that after nearly three years of a pandemic there is worker burnout, staff shortages, migration of health workers, increasing reports of danger and violence at work, and rising mental health concerns.
Taken together, there are four alarming trends currently affecting health workers’ ability to deliver health services for all and hindering our advancement towards UHC.
Global shortage of health workers
WHO figures released in April this year estimated a projected global shortage of 10 million health workers in 2030 based on current trends (mostly depicting a pre-COVID-19 situation). Since then, in the US alone, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics now estimates that more than 200,000 registered nurse positions are projected to be vacant annually over the next decade and WHO points out the largest shortages will be in Africa and Southeast Asia.
Globally, burnout levels among doctors and nurses have been estimated at 66 percent, a figure that doesn’t bode well for future health worker retention or indeed the ability to attract new recruits. Lack of available health workers, particularly in the global south where disease burden is higher, was the biggest obstacle to maintaining health services and delivering vaccines during COVID-19, according to WHO.
Protection of health workers
The pandemic stretched already understaffed and under-resourced health systems, increasing pressure and danger. Too often women were issued medical personal protective equipment (PPE) designed for male bodies that left them at risk. Health workers were sent door-to-door to enforce lockdowns or do contact tracing or give vaccines with no added protection, facing angry, confused, or frightened people.
They worked extra shifts under horrendous conditions, many with little or no extra pay. It is no wonder that the International Council of Nurses described the COVID-19 effect as a “mass traumatization of the world’s nurses.” The average prevalence of PTSD among global health workers is estimated to be around 17 percent, but this figure is much higher for women frontline workers, at 31 percent.
Advocates for health equity have a responsibility too, to bring the same passion that we see, for instance, in the global struggle for access to COVID vaccines, to the cause of equity and fairness for health workers who deliver these vaccines.
Women are disadvantaged in promotions too: despite 70 percent of health workers and 90 percent of frontline health workers being women, men hold around three quarters of the leadership positions. Historically female professions, like nursing and midwifery, have workers of all genders but they face difficulties advancing into leadership positions due to historical biases against them as caring and nurturing professions, where they are not seen as leaders.
The “Great Resignation” in health
Unsurprisingly, there is a Great Resignation in health–worldwide we see a flood of women health professionals who are planning to or have already left their jobs. In the summer of 2021, in the UK alone, more than 27,000 staff voluntarily resigned from the NHS amid burnout caused by a combination of pandemic pressures and staff shortages. In Ghana, most health workers experienced high levels of stress (68 percent) and burnout (67 percent) citing lack of preparedness as a key factor.
A billboard on a Nairobi freeway advertises for nurses to move to Germany. On Facebook pages, we find hundreds of advertisements for health workers to move to the UK. The incentive for international moves is fast-track visas and better pay. And why wouldn’t health workers give serious consideration to moving somewhere with better pay or more training or the chance to earn enough to send money back to their families?
There are serious implications as nurses from low-income countries leave their health systems to prop up others in wealthier countries that have failed to train health workers of their own. It is estimated that this Great Migration of health workers costs LMICs an estimated $15.85 billion annually in excess mortality.
While any individual has the right to migrate freely, recruiting companies actively recruit nurses while violating the Global Code of Practice on International Recruitment of Health Personnel, further exacerbating health worker shortages in areas that need health workers most.
Africa has only four percent of all health workers in the world, but more than 50 percent of the 10 million health workforce shortage is in Africa. With the Great Resignation and the Great Migration, these are serious concerns and were pointed out by Heads of State at the U.S.-Africa Leader’s Summit last week.
Universal health coverage should not just be about individuals and communities getting better and more affordable health services, it should also be about recognising health workers, their roles, and their needs. Health workers need safe working environments free of violence and harassment that give them all the resources they need to do their jobs well.
Appreciation isn’t just about applause. It’s about governments, which are responsible for the health of their citizens, ensuring systems are properly resourced–from hospitals to home aid. From guaranteeing equity in pay to properly paid work. From provision of proper PPE to safety at work in all conditions. And making sure that career choices and promotions are open to all, regardless of gender.
If global leaders are serious, then it’s time they do more, as they have promised, and accelerate their efforts to achieve universal health coverage and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Working for Health 2022-2030 Action Plan sets out how countries can support each other to build and strengthen their health and care workforce.
Our overburdened health workers have signaled that they have had enough. They have continued to protect us despite the shortages, lack of protection and problems related to pay, but they are burnt out. It is time we moved from applause to action and begin finally, to address the known problems plaguing global health systems.
The UN biodiversity conference, COP15, is due to wrap up on 19 December. This weekend, we are looking at some of the ways that humanity is reliant on biodiversity for a healthy and thriving global ecosystem.
When a species goes extinct, it takes with it all of the physical, chemical, biological, and behavioural attributes that have been selected for that species, after having been tested and re-tested in countless evolutionary experiments over many thousands, and perhaps millions, of years of evolution.
These include designs for heating, cooling, and ventilation; for being able to move most effectively and efficiently through water or air; for producing and storing energy; for making the strongest, lightest, most biodegradable and recyclable materials; and for many, many other functions essential for life.
Nature’s value is not limited to human applications, but the loss of nature and biodiversity represents major losses to human potential as well.
Here are some examples of the ways that nature has inspired engineering solutions.
UNDP
Way of the dragonfly
Inspired by the energy efficiency of dragonfly wings, particularly at low wind speeds, Professor Akira Obata, formerly from Japan’s Nippon Bunri University, designed corrugated blades for micro-wind turbines that turn and generate electricity, at wind speeds as low as 3 kph.
Most wind turbines perform poorly when speeds are less than 10 kph; some will not turn at all. By lowering the minimum wind speed requirements, these micro-wind turbines can harness wind energy in easily accessible locations like rooftops and balconies, and not need expensive towers to capture the higher speed winds found at higher elevations.
By studying and understanding the aerodynamics of dragonfly flight, Obata was able to make inexpensive, lightweight, stable, and efficient micro-wind turbines that can be used in off-grid locations in developing countries.
What is blacker than black?
Some butterflies, birds, and spiders have evolved super black coloration achieved by a variety of complex light-trapping mechanisms that could lead to new energy-efficient designs for solar collection.
The micro and nano-structures of surfaces strongly determine their light absorptive or reflective properties. Understanding not only the composition of the pigments involved but also the fine-structure and the physics of these surfaces, may be useful in designing more energy efficient systems for heating and cooling buildings, and more productive solar energy collectors.
‘Fog basking’
Two species of beetles actively harvest water from fog with a sequence of behaviours called ‘fog basking’. Late at night, in advance of the fog that rolls in nightly in the coastal sections of the Namib desert, the beetles emerge from the sand and climb up the dunes to place themselves in the fog’s path.
Tilting their bodies forward while facing the fog, they harvest moisture on their backs, which are made of hardened forewings called elytra that cover and protect their hind wings, used for flying.
The small water droplets in the fog collect there, coalesce to form larger droplets, which, by the force of gravity, run down the smooth hydrophobic (i.e. water-repelling) surfaces to the beetles’ mouths.
Given WHO estimates that half the world’s population will be living in water-stressed environments by 2025, the specific chemistry and structure of hydrophobic surfaces found in Namib beetles has generated enormous scientific interest for their potential human applications.
Birds and fossil fuels
Gliding and soaring birds are masters of aerodynamic efficiency and their wing-tip feather design inspired engineers to add small up-turned ‘winglets’ that reduce drag caused by vortices at the tips of aircraft wings.
By copying this wing-tip design, commercial airlines have saved 10 billion gallons of fuel, reducing their CO2 emissions by 105 million tonnes per annum.
To sequester this amount of carbon, one would need to plant about 16 million hectares of trees, each year – an area larger than the territory of Norway or Japan.
Extinction is not a foregone conclusion
The wastefulness of extinction is perhaps best highlighted by the near-extinction of the humpback whale.
Over-hunting almost wiped out these gigantic creatures, among the largest to ever have lived on the planet, and the humpback population crashed to just 5,000 in 1966.
Conservation organizations and scientists prompted a huge public and political outcry and humpback whales bounced back to an estimated 80,000 today. The humpback, uniquely, has bumpy ‘tubercles’ on the front of its flippers that enable these giants to manoeuvre with extraordinary agility.
The tubercles give the whales a hydrodynamic advantage – they minimize drag, enhance their ability to stay in motion and, critical when attacking prey, allow them to turn at sharper angles. Among other applications these have inspired engineers to make some of the most efficient industrial fan blades and wind power generators. If the humpbacks had gone extinct, we might have never been able to avail ourselves of the tubercle design.
The extraordinary organisms featured above, along with the sustainable engineering designs they have inspired, present a compelling case for why we must preserve biodiversity.
The organisms that create the support systems make all life on Earth, including human life, possible: millions of species are at risk, but losing even a single species can have enormous negative consequences for humanity.
Secretary-General António Guterres credited the more than 80 per cent of those who cross borders in a safe and orderly fashion as powerful drivers of “economic growth, dynamism, and understanding”.
“But unregulated migration along increasingly perilous routes – the cruel realm of traffickers – continues to extract a terrible cost”, he continued in his message marking the day.
Deaths and disappearances
Over the past eight years, at least 51,000 migrants have died, and thousands of others gone missing, said the top UN official.
“Behind each number is a human being – a sister, brother, daughter, son, mother, or father”, he said, reminding that “migrant rights are human rights”.
“They must be respected without discrimination – and irrespective of whether their movement is forced, voluntary, or formally authorized”.
UN Photo/Mark Garten
UN Secretary-General António Guterres meets South Sudanese refugees who are awaiting relocation in Imvepi Camp, in Uganda.
‘Do everything possible’
Mr. Guterres urged the world to “do everything possible” to prevent their loss of life – as a humanitarian imperative and a moral and legal obligation.
And he pushed for search and rescue efforts, medical care, expanded and diversified rights-based pathways for migration, and greater international investments in countries of origin “to ensure migration is a choice, not a necessity”.
“There is no migration crisis; there is a crisis of solidarity”, the Secretary-General concluded. “Today and every day, let us safeguard our common humanity and secure the rights and dignity of all”.
Realize basic rights
For his part, the head of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Gilbert F. Houngbo, shone a light on protecting the rights of the world’s 169 million migrant workers.
“The international community must do better to ensure… [that they] are able to realize their basic human and labour rights”, he spelled out in his message for the day.
Leaving them unable to exercise basic rights renders migrant workers “invisible, vulnerable and undervalued for their contributions to society”, pointed out the most senior ILO official.
Vulnerabilities
And when intersecting with race, ethnicity, and gender, they become even more vulnerable to various forms of discrimination.
Mr. Houngbo flagged that migrants do not only go missing on high-risk and desperate journeys.
“Many migrant domestic, agricultural and other workers are isolated and out of reach of those who could protect them”, with the undocumented particularly at risk of abuse.
Make fair labour migration a reality
Fair labour migration
Meanwhile, ILO supports governments, employers and workers to make fair labour migration a reality.
Like all employees, migrant workers are entitled to labour standards and international human rights protections, including freedom of association and collective bargaining, non-discrimination, and safe and healthy working environments, upheld the ILO chief.
They should also be entitled to social protection, development and recognition.
To make these rights a reality, Mr. Houngbo stressed the key importance of fair recruitment, including eliminating recruitment fees charged to migrant workers, which can help eradicate human trafficking and forced labour.
“Access to decent work is a key strategy to realize migrants’ development potential and contribution to society”, he said.
“We must recognize that injustices suffered by migrant workers are injustices to us all. We must do better”.
‘Cornerstone of development’
Meanwhile, in his message, the head of the International Migration Organization (IMO), António Vitorino, described migrants as “being a cornerstone of development and progress”.
“We can’t let the politicization of migration, hostility and divisive narratives divert us from the values that matter most”, he urged.
Regardless of what compels people to move, “their rights must be respected”, underscored the IMO chief.
Message from the Director General on International Migrants Day
The UN biodiversity conference, COP15, is due to wrap up on 19 December. This weekend, we are looking at some of the ways that humanity is reliant on a healthy and thriving global ecosystem.
One million species are now said to be at risk of extinction, and if species losses continue to mount, ecosystem functions vital to human health and life will continue to be disrupted.
Ecosystems provide goods and services that sustain all life on this planet, including human life. While we know a great deal about how many ecosystems function, they often involve such complexity and are on a scale so vast that humanity would find it impossible to substitute for them, no matter how much money was spent in the process.
The Living Laboratory
The majority of prescribed medicines in industrialized countries are derived from natural compounds produced by animals and plants. Billions of people in the developing world rely primarily on traditional plant-based medicine for primary health care.
Many cures from nature are familiar; painkillers such as morphine from opium poppies, the antimalarial quinine from the bark from the South American cinchona tree, and the antibiotic penicillin that is produced by microscopic fungi.
Microbes discovered in the soil of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) fight heart disease by lowering cholesterol. AZT, one of the first anti-HIV/AIDS drugs, came from a large shallow-water sponge that lives in the Caribbean, and happens to be the same sponge that yielded antivirals to treat herpes and serves as the source for the first marine-derived anti-cancer drug to be licensed in the US.
Unsplash/ Hans-Jurgen-Mager
A crucial reservoir for future cures
To date, only around 1.9 million species have been identified (and in many cases barely studied). It is believed that there are millions more that are completely unknown.
Everything alive is the result of a complex “living laboratory” that has been conducting its own clinical tests since life began – approximately 3.7 billion years ago. This natural pharmaceutical library harbours myriad undiscovered cures, if only we don’t destroy them before they’re recognized.
Take the polar bear, now classified as “threatened”. As its Arctic habitat melts due to climate change, the world’s largest terrestrial predator has become an icon of the dangers posed by rising global temperatures. It might also be an icon for health. Polar bears amass huge volumes of fat before hibernating. Despite being fat to a degree that would be life-threatening to humans, they are apparently immune to Type II diabetes. They remain immobile for months, yet their bones remain unchanged. While dormant they do not urinate, yet their kidneys are undamaged. If we understood and could reproduce how bears detoxify waste while hibernating, we might be able to treat – and perhaps even prevent – the toxicity from kidney failure in humans.
Currently 13 per cent of the global population is clinically obese, and the number of Type II diabetes sufferers is predicted to rise to 700 million by 2045. Over the course of their lifetimes, 1 in 3 women over the age of 50, and 1 in 5 men will experience osteoporosis-related bone fractures. In the US alone, kidney failure kills more than 82,000 people and costs the US economy $35 million a year. Polar bears have naturally developed ‘solutions’ to these problems – Type II diabetes from obesity, osteoporosis from being immobile, and toxicity from kidney failure – all of which cause misery to millions.
Another example is from coral reefs, sometimes referred to as “rainforests of the sea” due to their high biodiversity. Among the myriad inhabitants of these reefs are cone shells, a predatory mollusc that hunts with darts that deliver 200 distinct toxic compounds.
The drug Ziconotide exactly copies one cone shell’s toxic peptide, and is not just 1,000 times more potent than morphine, but also avoids the tolerance and dependency that opioids can cause. To date, of all the 700 cone snail species, only six have been scrutinized in detail, and of the potentially thousands of unique compounds they harbour, only 100 have been studied in detail. Coral reefs and all their occupants are being destroyed at alarming rates.
Providing chemical compounds is not the only way biodiversity is crucial to our health. A surprising array of species have helped revolutionize medical knowledge. Zebrafish have been central to our knowledge of how organs, especially the heart, form; a microscopic roundworm has led to an understanding of ‘programmed cell death’ (apoptosis) which not only regulates organ growth, but which, when disrupted, can cause cancer. Fruit flies and bacterial species were principal contributors to research that mapped the human genome.
There may be undiscovered species which, like scientific laboratory animals, possess attributes rendering them particularly well suited for studying and treating human disease. Should these species be lost, their secrets will be lost with them.
What’s driving biodiversity loss?
The main factor currently driving biodiversity loss is habitat destruction—on land; in streams, rivers, and lakes; and in the oceans.
Unless we significantly reduce our use of fossil fuels, climate change alone is anticipated to threaten with extinction approximately one quarter or more of all species on land by the year 2050, surpassing even habitat loss as the biggest threat to life on land.
Species in the oceans and in fresh water are also at great risk from climate change, especially those like corals that live in ecosystems uniquely sensitive to warming temperatures, but the full extent of that risk has not yet been calculated.
Losses to biodiversity impinge on human health in numerous ways. Ecosystem disruption and the loss of biodiversity have major impacts on the emergence, transmission, and spread of many human infectious diseases. The pathogens for 60 per cent of human infectious diseases, for example malaria and COVID, are zoonotic, meaning they have entered our bodies after having lived in other animals.
The virus that causes HIV/AIDS, and which has killed over 40 million people to date, likely made the species jump from chimpanzees butchered for bushmeat in West Central Africa. All in all, there may be 10,000 zoonotic viruses capable of jumping species to us circulating silently in the wild today.
This makes the One Health approach – a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach that brings together various intergovernmental agencies, governments and local and regional actors to tackle human health and environmental health together – critical to minimizing the risk of future disease spillover.
Selfishly, if the natural world is healthy, we will be too.
Planetary life insurance
A key challenge for organizations working to preserve biodiversity is to convince others – policymakers and the public in particular – that human beings and our health are fundamentally reliant on the animals, plants, and microbes we share this small planet with. We are totally dependent on the goods and services the natural world provides, and we have no other choice but to preserve it.
The World Economic Forum estimates that half of the world’s GDP ($44 trillion) depends on nature. Globally, the pharmaceutical industry’s annual revenue is $1.27 trillion, and each year healthcare in the US alone costs over $4 trillion.
In comparison, the amount of money needed to close the finance gap to conserve biodiversity is only $700 billion a year. For planetary health and life insurance, that figure is not just a bargain, it’s a necessity.
Humans cannot exist outside of nature. Protecting the plants, animals, and microbes we share our small planet with is not voluntary, for it is these organisms that create the support systems that make all life on Earth, including human life, possible.
In a statement issued on Friday, Stéphane Dujarric said that in addition to the deaths of the male and female peacekeepers in Timbuktu town earlier in the day, four other blue helmets from the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) were injured.
Possible war crime
Attacks targeting UN peacekeepers “may constitute war crimes” under international law, the statement continued.
The UN chief called on the Malian authorities to “spare no effort in identifying and swiftly bringing the perpetrators of these heinous attacks to justice”.
He offered his deepest condolences to the bereaved families, the Government, and people of Nigeria and wished the injured a speedy recovery.
“The Secretary-General reiterates the United Nations continued support to, and solidarity with, the people of Mali”, said Mr. Dujarric.
Call to Transitional Government
At the same time, the Security Council issued a statement condemning the attack “in the strongest terms” and paid tribute to “all peacekeepers who risk their lives”.
They called on the Transitional Government of Mali to “swiftly investigate” the attack with the support of MINUSMA and promote accountability by bringing the perpetrators to justice.
The ambassadors reminded Mali officials to keep the relevant troop-contributing country informed of the progress consistent with the Security Council resolutions on the safety and security of peacekeepers (2518) and accountability for any violence against them (2589).
They underlined that involvement in planning, directing, sponsoring, or conducting attacks against MINUSMA peacekeepers “constitutes a basis for sanctions”.
UN Photo/Gema Cortes
A member of the Search and Detect Team serving with the UN Stabilization Mission in Mali surveys a road in Menaka in the northeast of Mali.
Combat terrorism
The responsibility of UN personnel safety rests with host States, the statement continued, highlighting the importance of communications between MINUSMA and Mali’s Transitional Government.
The Council reaffirmed that terrorism constitutes “one of the most serious threats to international peace and security”, describing it as “criminal and unjustifiable”, regardless of the motivation.
They emphasized the need to “bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice” and for all States to combat terrorism in accordance with the UN Charter and international law.
Greater Sahel region
While reiterating its full support to MINUSMA and other security presences in the Sahel region, the Council expressed concern over the security situation in Mali and the transnational dimension of terrorism in the Sahel region.
“Lasting peace and security in the Sahel region will not be achieved without a combination of political, security, peacebuilding and sustainable development efforts benefiting all regions of Mali, as well as the full, effective and inclusive implementation of the Agreement”, they said.
UN Photo/Harandane Dicko
Senegalese peacekeepers serving with MINUSMA secure the route that their convoy must travel on to Ogoussagou to ensure safety for its personnel.
Standing with Mali
The Council further stressed the importance of MINUSMA having the necessary capacities to fulfil its mandate and promote the safety and security of the blue helmets.
These “heinous acts” will not undermine the peacekeepers determination to continue to support the peace and reconciliation process in Mali, the statement concluded.
Friends in need
The day before the attacks, a new Group of Friends to Promote Accountability for Crimes Against Peacekeepers initiative was launched at UN Headquarters in New York to improve the safety and security of blue helmets.
During the event, peace operations chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix reminded that Mali was one of three countries that shouldered 84 per cent of peacekeeping fatalities since 2013.
He also drew attention to four MINUSMA personnel from Chad who were killed on 10 October as a result of improvised explosive device in Tessalit, the Kidal Region.
